Future of 'The Briefs' in balance despite 2m viewers

ITV is due to make a decision in the next few weeks on whether there should be a new series of 'The Briefs', the fly-on-the-wall TV documentary about criminal law firm Tuckers.

Franklin Sinclair, the firm's senior partner, said the two-part series was watched by an audience of over two million and had given the firm a "wonderful chance" to publicise its work.

Sinclair said the first two episodes of 'The Briefs', screened last summer, had provoked a "lot of snapping".

"This time round the reaction was very different and much more positive, even from criminal lawyers and on Twitter," he said.

"The lawyers involved were more professional and serious. They oozed quality and dealt with difficult clients and it was really hard to criticise the programme."

Sinclair said the second series had not led to a huge increase in work for the firm but it would be difficult to know if a client was thinking 'I'll go to Tuckers because I saw them on TV'.

He said the firm had mounted a leaflet campaign in Manchester and London before the second series was screened in the second half of last month.

Sinclair said the programmes had to be entertaining, and could not go "in-depth into the mysteries of criminal law", but there was "a bit of education" in them.

He said the planned cuts in criminal legal aid had been featured at a "very opportune moment". Franklin was shown in the last programme on a march in Manchester, protesting against the cuts.

"The government's proposals have been amended, but we won't know until next month what they are," he said.

"I'm not over hopeful. I believe they will make cuts and they will be quite deep. The problem is there are too many firms, looking for too little work at too low a rate of pay.

"The MoJ must ask itself how it wants the legal aid supplier base to look. If they want large, organised firms with proper IT, they must do something about it."